For an industrial device, a timing at which maintenance work should be performed is usually determined by a manufacturer of the device. For example, a timing of maintenance work performed on a piston of an engine is determined such that the maintenance work should be performed after every 12,000 hours of operation time of the engine.
Additionally, a degree of deterioration of a device is influenced by the magnitude of a load applied to the device during operation. Thus, a technique is proposed to determine a timing at which maintenance work should be performed on a device to reflect the magnitude of a load applied to the device.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP2007-206007A proposes a technique for determining an exact timing to replace parts of a machine based on a use time that is calculated to reflect the magnitude of a load applied to the machine under use.
For a device mounted on a ship, a timing at which maintenance work should be performed is also usually determined by a manufacturer of the devices. However, a degree of deterioration of such a device mounted on a ship is influenced by, in addition to the magnitude of a load applied to the device and an operation time of the device, various factors such as a ship speed, an attitude of the ship, a meteorological or hydrographic phenomenon that the ship has encountered during sailing, and a type of fuel oil used by a main engine.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a means for enabling determination of a timing of maintenance work to be performed on a device mounted on a ship.